Archive for April, 2011

Greetings kombatants, and welcome to my review of the latest sequel to Mortal Kombat. I have been playing a lot of this game; I wanted to experience as much as I could and soak up all the bloody goodness before writing this. I took some extensive notes as I played and was very attentive. I will break the review into a variety of sections: General, Gameplay, Story, Online, and so on, so sit back and enjoy an in-depth look into Mortal Kombat.

To start you off check out this “Twisted Metal – Broken” trailer if you haven’t seen it already. I’m getting more pumped for this game the more I see. Twisted Metal is currently set for an October 4th release date. Check out to more videos after the break.

A lot of PlayStation Network users became furious, or even confused, when Sony, not long ago, said every PSN account was under the danger of being compromised. Now, however, major American banks have stated that they have no awareness of a mass breach of credit information. What this means is, there hasn’t been any suspicious mass credit card actions in the past couple days. I would still suggest keeping an eye on your bank statements, and maybe changing some passwords if you use the same password for everything.

It’s going to take Sony weeks, months, possibly years, to overcome this horrific event. I want to express to you guys the fact that this could have happened to any cooperation. I also believe these so-called hackers aren’t in it for the money. I, personally, think they are in it for the popularity. They want to be known as the hackers who brought down one of the most secure consoles, or so they say, the PlayStation 3. We, as ps3 gamers, should still have faith in Sony. Just because hackers currently have them in the worst of positions, I think we, as a gaming community, can wrestle this hacking bear, and just beat the living crap out of it.

We should expect PSN to resume by Tuesday at the latest. Assuming the network is 100% secure, of course.

[tab:News]It appears that the popular rental service, Redbox, will soon be providing video game rentals, after having sold over 1 million game rentals in their testing markets (at 5,000 locations), which began in August of 2009. On June 17th, over 21,000 locations will begin offering game rentals to go along with their movie selection.

The daily price will be $2 a day (even for new releases), though, which is a dollar more than a DVD and $0.50 more than a Blu-Ray, but since games (usually) take longer than the length of a movie to complete, the costs could potentially add up if you rent for a number of days. Given the huge popularity of the service, though, with movies alone, this could be a successful venture, especially since the test markets have had such a positive outcome.

Though, for me, personally, I’ll likely stick with GameFly, because I can buy a game used if I enjoyed it, at a reasonable price, and be in like-new condition, with the retail box that includes an unused online pass (at least, in my experience with a couple titles, including Battlefield: Bad Company 2). But Redbox can still be convenient, if only for impulse rentals while visiting the grocery store.

Anyone else ever rent something from a Redbox?
[tab:Press Release]

GAME ON! REDBOX ANNOUNCES IT WILL OFFER VIDEO GAME RENTALS NATIONWIDE THIS JUNE

*April 28, 2011 – *Redbox, America’s movie rental destination, today announced it will offer video game rentals at more than 21,000 redbox locations nationwide beginning June 17, 2011. Top video games will join new release movies for only $2 a day complementing $1 DVD and $1.50 Blu-ray™ daily rental prices. The announcement follows a test of video game rentals in select U.S. markets that began in August 2009.

“Redbox will increase consumers’ access to video game rentals by leveraging our incredible technology and business model to keep rental prices low for consumers,” said Mitch Lowe, president, redbox. “With more than 21,000 redbox locations slated to feature video game rentals alongside movies this June, redbox will be the one-stop shop for entertainment.”

Redbox, a Coinstar, Inc. brand, has tested video game rentals alongside movies at 5,000 redbox locations. “Redbox has rented more than one million video games in less than two years at these locations, underscoring the popularity of video game play in America,” added Lowe.

Today, nearly 64 percent* of people in the United States own a game console.

Upon launch, redbox will feature games across the three major console platforms: PLAYSTATION® 3, Nintendo Wii™ and Xbox 360®. Video game titles will range from top releases to popular family and kids titles.

“Redbox will make discovering the latest games as easy as a trip to the local grocery, convenience or drug store,” said Joel Resnik, vice president, games, redbox.

*About Redbox*

Redbox Automated Retail, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Coinstar, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSTR), offers new release DVD and Blu-ray Disc rentals through its network of conveniently located, self-service kiosks. Redbox has rented more than one billion movies and is available at more than 27,000 locations nationwide, including select McDonald’s restaurants, leading grocery, drug and convenience stores, select Walmart locations and Walgreens locations in select markets. For more information, visit www.redbox.com.

Certain statements in this press release are “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including phrases conveying expectation or intent and other expressions identifying future performance. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance which may vary materially from performance expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements. Differences may result from actions taken by Coinstar, Inc or redbox as well as those of third parties and from risks and uncertainties beyond our control. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, changes in the number and timing of anticipated locations, our ability to attract new retailers and penetrate new markets and distribution channels and the termination, non-renewal or renegotiation on materially adverse terms of contract terms with our significant retailers. The foregoing risks and uncertainties are illustrative, but by no means exhaustive. For more information on factors that may affect future performance, please review “Risk Factors” described in our most recent Form 10-K and Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These forward-looking statements reflect Coinstar, Inc.’s expectations as of the date of this release. Coinstar, Inc. undertakes no obligation to update the information provided herein.[tab:END]